Grain trade

A Look at the Recent Grain Trade

The grain trade looks to have found some support levels that look to hold longer term. Looking at the grain trade today, December corn holding the 5.15 level or better into next week. November soybeans 12.75 or better. And looking at the wheat trade in Chicago, December 7.18 or better. Elsewhere, that VIX or fear index on Wall Street, back …

Joseph Dart grain elevator

Joseph Dart and the Birth of the Grain Elevator

How Buffalo Helped Transform the Grain Trade The movement of grain from farms to markets has always depended on transportation and efficient handling systems. In the early 1840s, a major innovation emerged in Buffalo, New York, that would dramatically change the way grain was moved, stored and loaded onto ships. The story of the modern grain elevator can be traced …

Corn

U.S. Supply and Demand Estimates for Corn

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released its September supply and demand estimates, providing an updated look at the nation’s corn outlook. In this report, World Agricultural Outlook Board Chair, Mark Jekanowski discusses the latest changes in the domestic corn balance sheet. “Looking ahead to the new marketing year, reduction in yield by about 2.2 bushels per acre, and it …

CME FedWatch

CME FedWatch Updates

Last Wednesday, CME’s FedWatch tool showed a 60% chance of a quarter-point rate hike by the Fed this week. Since then, an almost uninterrupted rise in energy prices and lower trends on Wall Street has that percentage now at 88% chance of a quarter-point hike today, an analyst suggesting another quarter-point hike by December. In the grain trade, rain chances …

trade

New Trade Opportunities

Australia and New Zealand are major livestock producing countries, and USDA says that could create additional opportunities for American feed products. Luke Lindberg, USDA Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, recently traveled to both countries as part of a U.S. agricultural trade mission. While Australia and New Zealand are already mature markets, Lindberg says USDA still sees opportunities to …

9-11

Remembering 9-11

We join others never forgetting those lost 25 years ago this day, coordinated terrorist attacks in New York, Washington DC, and those who thwarted an additional attack crashing in a field in rural Pennsylvania. We pause and we remember. This is the Bottom-Line Report. A monthly supply demand and production estimate seems less urgent today, yet the grain trade awaits …

corn

Projected Corn Yields

StoneX released updated production estimates ahead of USDA numbers that come tomorrow morning, and they still see a national corn yield just short of 183 bushels an acre, three bushels above USDA’s August number, 10 bushels above the pro-farmer number. StoneX places the corn yield nationally 182.9, and a crop over 16.2 billion bushels. Their soybean estimates more in line …

Harvest Rates

Custom Harvest Rates to Change

Custom harvest rates, of course, can vary from state to state and crop to crop. Universities suggest custom operators carefully figure the cost of fuel this year before figuring a final rate. To be helpful, University of Illinois suggests a custom rate for corn, $54.40 an acre. Soybeans, $47.60, including overhead, fuel and labor. Iowa State University shows $50.60 an …

corn

Corn, Wheat, and Soybean Futures

Late week highs in corn, soybean, and wheat futures could be new targets going into the September crop report from USDA a week from today. Watching December corn at the 550 level, November soybeans 1324-1325. Most analysts expect USDA to come below the pro-farmer corn number and at or maybe a little below their soybean number. Several producers that I’ve …

Henry A. Wallace hybrid corn

Henry A. Wallace and the Birth of Hybrid Corn

From an Iowa Teenager to a Pioneer in Corn Breeding Long before hybrid seed corn transformed American agriculture, Henry A. Wallace was already experimenting with ways to help farmers produce more corn. His interest began when he was just 16 years old, when the Iowa high school student started field-testing corn with the goal of developing higher-yielding varieties. Wallace continued …